Year End Review-Steam

Well the biggest change in my life when it actually has come to gaming is that I quite enjoy PC gaming now thanks to Steam. Before I would have never thought about the PC honestly being a valid console anymore for games, but Steam has opened my eyes to it and I am quite enjoying it.

While I only have about 26 games, a great majority of them were purchased this year and on the steam sales. I enjoy indie games but they ended up being all sorts of titles from Dust an Elysian tale to Cook, Serve, Delicious.

My first perfect day in Cook, Serve, Delicious

I'm not really one for first person shooters or anything that can be bought on a console. But for sure there is tons of stuff out there that I enjoy that wouldn't feel right if it wasn't on a computer. And to be honest, that's ok.

I'm excited for the new Street Fighter game that will be coming out on PC and PS4. But I'm also really excited for what 2015 holds for PC gaming. Hopefully though in the new year, maybe I will have built a better PC to play those games.

Year End Review-Visual Novels

Visual novels have always been a part of my life for a very long time,but oddly enough it seemed like this year was the year that I bought a ton of them, and oddly enough almost all of them were translated into English.

I initially just preordered Steins;Gate the limited edition because JAST USA made it sound like the only people who were going to get a physical copy of the game (at the time when this was in golden master) were the people who jumped in and bought limited editions. So of course I went ahead and preordered a copy of the limited edition, though now there is Steins;Gate coming out for almost everything and that a standard edition of the game exists as well. Though I don't regret getting the limited edition, it looks really nice and everything. I wish that they made more of them like this, I really like the way the box looks.

Honestly though, if you haven't picked up Steins;Gate for the PC yet, or if you don't want to play VNs on your PC, there is going to be a few releases next year of the game on IOS, PS Vita, and PS3. So in 2015 no one will have an excuse to not have played a piece of otaku history.

When I was at Sakuracon in the spring I ended up buying Kara no Shoujo for the PC as well. It only happened by chance because I was just walking through the dealers hall at the convention and ended up finding the Mangagamer booth. The only thing I was kind of interested in was Kara no Shoujo so I picked it up for $50 for the limited edition of it as well. Though it was a limited edition, it's not as good looking as the Steins;Gate one. And to be honest, it was much of an impulse buy than anything else because I want more VNs to come to the US and international, I knew enough about it that it's an eroge but nothing else.

Of course after that I bought another Hakuoki game, this time for the PS3 just for the fact that I love this game series even though we end up getting the same game over and over with just added content.

I'll buy it because not only do I like the story of it being taken a part in an alternate history in Japan. There's freaking Oni and pseudo-oni people in it. And if that wasn't enough fun, then I don't know what is. But to be honest it is an Otome game and there aren't many of those existing in general; even in Japan. So I feel like I got to buy this game to boost up the numbers. But it actually is a good story, so it's a win-win situation.

Though with how niche the PS Vita is, I don't see why AKSYS hasn't gotten the copyright to release an English version of the Sweet School Life version of Hakuoki. Because who doesn't like an alternate reality where everyone in the Shinsengumi is in high school, or teaches in high school. Are you kidding that would print instant money. Seriously, every fangirl would get to live out their dream of being surrounded with cute boys doing stuff.

The last thing I have bought this year in regards to VNs was another impulse buy it was Littlewitch Romanesque released by JAST USA released on the 23rd of December. The only reason why I think I bought it was because I was on JAST USA's page and saw it was getting released this month. And to my honest surprise it was. I have the game downloaded right now on my computer but I am still waiting for my physical copy, though I just looked it up on J-list itself and saw they have addressed the problem. I don't know when I will be getting the physical one but I hope it is soon, because I want to see how the case is and I hope it is akin to the one they did for Steins;Gate.

I did get past the intro to actually save the game and I came across this cute little thing.

I really have no idea what it is, but doesn't it kind of look like a Moomin? A Moomin that looks like he's made out of chocolate...

From what I've seen so far, I like how the story is shown, with it going more for a living manga style where speech bubbles appear than just a box with text. And the voices are great so far. I am especially glad that the main male lead has a voice, as that is the number one deal breaker for me. If I play a game and the main male has no voice... It just stops me in my tracks and then makes me want to mute all the characters. Because if I hear someone talking and the response to it is just a wall of text that I am suppose to read, and then goes back to voices. It just breaks immersion. There is an all-ages version though coming to Steam via their Greenlight system, so if you're interested in the story without the eroge contents there's that for you.

I am excited for 2015 since there will be a lot more VNs on their way, including Clannad from Sekai project, and not to mention (hopefully) the release of Hanachirasu from JAST USA. Also more Steins;Gate which is good too. But most of all I am excited to see what will get the potential go from either kickstarter or from independent small groups making their own VNs.  It seems as if VNs have found their way into the hearts of people outside of Japan. And I'd like for it to keep growing years down the line.

Steins;Gate coming to Playstation 3 and PS Vita in 2015

Stiens;Gate is coming, be prepared Sony

Well if you haven't heard the news yet, Steins;Gate is going to have a release in 2015 for PS3 and Vita. Now even though the game is already out in English on the PC thanks to JASTUSA there is going to be a release for Europe and North America.

I am really excited by this. Even though I have a copy of the PC game already, I hope what has had happened recently with the growing trend of visual novels coming out, that Japan does see that there is a market out here for it, and that yes, people do buy them. While I do have a few gripes of how visual novels are handled (I'll make a post about it eventually) in the USA with certain distributors. I've got to say overall that I am glad that people can enjoy these games.

Now I am just waiting to see if they'll actually start translating otome or yaoi games.

I know what I'll be doing on December 9th-Playing Suikoden 2

I was just reading the newest news and I saw something that made me smile Suikoden II on the PSN and it is going to be AMAZING! Also I will be able to finally play the original Suikoden as well. This makes me honestly so happy. Suikoden was one of those games you sank hours into to get all the stars, and made doing tons of sidequests not so boring, and you could play lots of various characters.

Also I am glad that I will be able to play this game on the Vita, I'm going to get super comfy every night and just play till I get sleepy. I can't wait.

If Sony ports games that I grew up playing and enjoy even now, I have no problem with buying them. I've forever have qualms about not having physical copies of games, but I am getting over that problem slowly since I started playing PC games more often.

I Love the PS Vita

So around the 24th of November I finally received my PS Vita and I have been messing around with it ever since.

For one thing the PS Vita is rather light since it's the newer version and not only that it feels a bit more natural in my hands than the 3DS does. Now that doesn't mean that I dislike my 3DS but the two are aimed at very different people and tastes.

As of right now I don't have many games for the Vita I have three which includes a cross platform game and two actual Vita games. But, as for the selection in titles in the USA, it does make it look more like if you enjoy playing import localized games (i.e. J-RPGs) you are going to have a lot more fun.

So the actual PS Vita games I got were Muramasa Rebirth from the wonderful company Vanillaware and published by Aksys games and Persona 4 Golden from Atlus. Right now I am playing Muramasa Rebirth because I do like side scrolling action a lot. And I do mean A LOT.

Though I do like the Shin Megami Tensei series, to be honest Persona is my least favorite; and I'll admit it's mainly because of what I saw of Persona 3 and Persona 4. I haven't played either, but you know I finally will suck up my cynicism and actually play it. And I will get to it eventually and give my personal views of both when I get to completing the games.

Hopefully I will get more games for the Vita soon, because I need more of it.

The Binding of Isaac-Vanilla Version

Well, since The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth came out a little while ago. I decided to finally play the original version that I bought on a Steam sale for $1.99. I can't remember if I got it at the summer sale or the Halloween sale, but it was on sale for cheap and I bought it.

The good thing about this game is that it has going for it is that it's a rouge-like game. If you haven't played any games like it before it just means that it tends to be random generating on each playthrough so that no two playthroughs are exactly alike. Which makes each play session great. But the bad thing is that they're hard to play. But at the same time the toughness is something that you just want to keep playing over and over again, watching yourself getting a little bit better with every play.

Though this isn't my first time with a rouge-like (my first was Rogue Legacy) I've got to admit this is the first time that I've kept playing on a constant basis. Just because it's very easy to pick up and play, and everything that you can unlock and get achievements for are just a hoot.

Today I was actually able to unlock Cain, by getting a $1 bill from the slot machine when it blew up, and then I proceeded to buy everything that I could. This was actually the first time I was able to defeat Mom, with the power of money. Since every time I was low on health I was just able to buy some more from the shop, or attempt to win some at the arcade.

Though oddly enough, I kept on finding money wherever I went and of course I kept taking it, because who wouldn't want that free money. I felt really accomplished after defeating mom the first time. But sadly enough, I can't seem to get to her again. Which is a bit sad, I mean the game does increase in length, but I just cannot seem to get to her and it's so odd. But I will play and play the game till I get Rebirth (hopefully on the Black Friday Steam sale).

Mainly when I play The Binding of Isaac, I don't have the sound on, instead I listen to music or watch some let's plays while playing. Oddly enough most of the stuff I tend to watch are Rebirth playthroughs (odd I know). If you have the chance to pick up The Binding of Isaac, any version; it's a good game to pick up and play which never gets boring due to its constant change.

Pit Obvserves and Says things-Smash Bros. for the Wii-U

Well, as Smash Bros. fever is still taking over the internet, the Wii-U version does have something really fun in it. Remember how you could have little codec conversations with Snake in Smash Bros Brawl? Well the spiritual successor to that comes in the form of Pit and Palutena.

The only problem I have with these interactions is... Well sometimes Pit, well he says things so ridiculous that it's pretty much facepalm worthy. And I mean seriously, he can get bad.

 A lot of the conversations of course are fourth wall breaking, but Pit, he seems so ignorant at times to where it is really sad. But at the same time though, even if they're facepalm worthy... It's kind of funny at the same time, because you feel that no one could be that ridiculous.

 Pit does tend to make first observations based on appearance, which does mean things get silly. Though the observations does show that he still has his child-like demeanor. Even sometimes it's jealousy.

I thought this was the best one out of all of these, just because it does show how Pit feels towards more famous characters when they came out in the same generation of consoles. Link is more well known and has more fame than Pit. Even Toon Link is more recognizable. But more than anything, you'll see Pit remarking with silly quips, and here are just a few examples:

If you're going to play Smash Bros. I suggest you do all of these with each character, because they're so funny. But if you don't have the time...Youtube has got you covered.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger- Taokaka:Innocent Heart

During the summer sale I bought quite a few games on Steam, and one of the ones that I did buy was BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. I don't exactly know why since I already had the game but it was probably for the reason of me wanting to support Aksys and wanting more Japanese based games on Steam.

So I got bored of playing Skullgirls at the moment, so I finally downloaded Blazblue. The first thing I did was started to play in arcade mode. And I got to say that I don't quite like the feel of the game on the computer as much as I do on console. I can't exactly explain why, but it feels it's lagging at parts but not because of my computer, but because of the game port itself.

Anyway I started eventually playing the story and I forgot how much I like Taokaka. Her story and her character herself is so innocent.

Taokaka is honestly very sweet and takes things to heart. Also she may be quick to action but she is the type to remember the people who do good things for her and the other Kaka clan. Oddly enough equating Lychee to "Boobie Lady" (she does call her this in Japanese she refers to her as "chichi no hito") due to her huge boobs, though Lychee feeds and teaches the children of the Kaka clan when she can. But in her story, the main one she goes out to find Ragna the Bloodedge but ends up getting so hungry and eating/trying to eat his food in Orient town, that he ends up feeding you because he feels bad.

After that she calls him a good guy and will never forget the kindness shown to her. Which I find adorable, even though it is a basic cat/animal instinct to favor those whom feed you. And in another divergence she ends up living with Bang because he says that he'll feed her (and ends on adopting her in some way as he dotes on her) and then takes Taokaka as his apprentice, which is really cute.

Besides Taokaka's actual cute storyline, I do greatly enjoy all the Kaka clan. The children and even the elder are adorable. In the Japanese version (I can't play with the English voices) I enjoy the little children's voices and the way they have them positioned in scenes.

They're just as adorable in their giant coats and their kaomoji faces. But I enjoy even though that the Kaka clan lives in the lower levels and aren't suppose to really be seen by society. Well they're still happy and don't mind living their lives. Even in the bad times, the Kaka clan does persevere. Which is a great thing.

If you haven't gotten BlazBlue on Steam, wait for a sale and pick it up. Yeah it's not Guilty Gear (which a lot of people prefer) I still believe that BlazBlue's story is great and intertwines with each character greatly. Also as a fighting game, it's not bad just kind of Guilty Gear like but that's ok. It's made by the same company. But it is a good game if you just want to add more to your fighting game library. 

Senbonzakura- Rin and Len Kagamine Scale Figure Impressions

FREEing had just released for preorder today the twins from the Senbonzakura video. I've honestly been waiting for these two to come out along with Kaito since the Senbonzakura is one of my favorite songs that has been written but even more so I loved the character designs. But I accidentally missed the Miku version of this, so when the twins came out for preorder today I jumped on the chance to order them.

Rin's design is super lovely dealing with the sepia tones in her outfit and the ruffles on her billowing sleeves and her sailor tippet is so adorable. I've always loved how she looked in the video... But seeing how gently they colored her, it makes the figure feel really nice.

The koppori she wears looks very amazing as well and looks like it has a traditional lacquer finish to them, even though I know it's plastic. Overall I do love the feeling it encases between western and eastern fashion.

Len is also cute with his traditional military school uniform on along with is cape. The type of gakuran Len wears was popular during the time of war up until the 1990's when they ended up being for middle school students while high schools wear blazers and ties.

FREEing has the initial release for June 2015 and each figure is 1/8th scale and is about 10,800 yen roughly (depending on where you order). Also since these are the Kagamine twins FREEing does give you the option of purchasing them together and giving you a slight discount so it would be 19,800 yen (again depending on where you order) for both.

WAS~The Hourglass of Lepidoptera-Kickstarter

Well it's time for another Kickstarter that I'm funding and where I talk about it, and it's about something close to my heart; visual novels.

Sekai Project is bringing us another kickstarter for another visual novel and this time it is WAS-The Hourglass of Lepidoptera. If you are interested in seeing if you want to donate to this visual novel there is a demo in their first update right here.

I have downloaded the demo and have played a bit of it:

A word of warning when you download this game, turn down the volume as if you wear earphones as I do. I got a huge blast of sound that has hurt my ears. Now for the demo itself, it's a bit of the common fare of waking up and not knowing what your surroundings are and have to be explained everything and a huge twist of events.

I only played up to the point of when you get out of the chapel, and for a good reason too. I was already started to get interested in the game. As I am a backer for the project I just knew if I was going to keep it up, I would wanna play the whole thing now. But I have to keep that restraint as I do want to be excited for the real deal when it comes out.

As for the Kickstarter itself, it was only asking for $10,000 and we're already past that. As I type this the exact amount is $13,389 so far. Though while we are already past the mark, voices will be unlocked as stretch goals, since they have to pay for the rights of the voices.

$30,000 will get us events and rewatching scenes voiced while $46,000 will get all voices unlocked and additional characters to be voiced except for of course the protagonist.

If you are interested in the game here is the main Kickstarter page. Sekai Project has done already a few sucessful projects via Kickstarter and has games (including World End Economica) on Steam as well. The minimum donation is $15 for a copy on Steam while deluxe for everything is at $150. If you want a physical copy of the game, you need to donate at least $75.

I'd suggest reading the information and downloading the demo if this seems up your alley. I know I am donating to make sure good VNs come out that retain various audiences. And it seems Sekai Project has a more general reach than the other few translators of Japanese VNs.

Skullgirls: Eliza DLC Overview

Eliza is a singer in New Meridian

This is an overview of Skullgirls Eliza DLC that came out recently. Just going to say it, there will be spoilers in this overview of the character, so be warned; and spoilers will also be image wise as well, but not only that, this will be very image heavy.

This will be divided into three parts:

-Eliza the character

-Eliza in her storyline in Skullgirls

-Eliza's play style and my opinions personally about her play style 

Eliza the Character

 As character designs go, Eliza is Egyptian themed, who has a striking semblance to Elizabeth Taylor in the classic movie Cleopatra. She is a lovely woman whose image not only shows sensuality but flare and striking beauty.

Eliza is a singer at the Canopy Kingdom. While there are other singers at the club, it's Eliza who is much more known than anyone else. Eliza does a lot of donations for the people, most commonly blood drives. She's a really nice chick, right? But I digress, she is a rather selfish and self important person, and gets chauffeured around and waiting on hand and foot by her two servants (I'm not really sure about what to call them); Albus and Horace.

Albus and Horace still keep in theme with Eliza and the Egypt theme. And I really do find them funny, in an extremely comical way...  In how buff these two guys are and then their silly heads. I mean just look at Albus, it looks as if he's wearing a fake wig and then Horace, look at his little cheep-cheep beak with that body.

I will say though, these two guys serve as a great add to Eliza's character not only in the story but also in the way that she plays. Even though I think they may look a bit silly, don't get me wrong. I really love these two, especially Horace... Because I like birds. (cheep-cheep).

Eliza's Story

Going back to the whole thing about Eliza and her charity funding, specifically the blood drives. Well the Medici family head Lorenzo wants Eliza to go find the Skullheart. Eliza of course doesn't want to do it for them, but the ace up their sleeve is that they'll expose her secret; the fact that she has been stealing from her own charity drives. Yes, stealing blood. 

Of course in the interest of the Medici's Vitale, Lorenzo's son, decides to send out Cerebella with Eliza and her gang. The three do not get along all that well, Cerebella does not trust any of the three and is extremely vocal about it, much to both Horace and Albus' anger. The first group they do notice though is the recently revived Squigly and Leviathan. Eliza is more interested in Leviathan since she has known him in the past.

Eliza exposes her true self as a Theon (the proper name for the parasites in Skullgirls) and asks if he would join up with her. The offer was quickly denied and it seemed as if there was bad blood between the two of them. 

Eventually Eliza gets sidetracked because she smells something delicious (blood delicious) and it ends up being Ms. Fortune and the life gem inside her. Defeating the cat, she literally has Albus load her into the trunk of the car. No joke, even then Ms. Fortune is still cracking jokes about her situation.

Though we all knew that Eliza wouldn't keep her word about finding the Skullheart for the Medici's and instead goes back to her place to just do her thing. In fact the entire drive to her place she was warning Cerebella that her trust in the Medici family will be her downfall, as no one is supposed to know about the life gem and that she may be killed. But Cerebella is an optimist when it comes to the Medici's and especially Vitale.

I do feel bad though, since this blind trust that Cerebella has ends up being her downfall. She does try to confront Eliza, even challenging her to a fight, which of course ended up not going in her favor. In fact, the whole death scene of Cerebella did make me feel a bit sad, not exactly because she died, but more the fact that it was entirely avoidable.

We do see that Eliza does keep around people, Horace and Albus are still alive. And I don't think she would have killed Cerebella if she had left the Medici family and joined her faction instead.

Eventually the blood gang does end up getting to the cathedral and we meet up with Samson and Fillia, and it does get very heated with the two. And I don't know if it's love or hate with Eliza and Samson (and I mean this from Eliza's point of view). It seems a long time ago that she had killed Samson's human host, her name was Delilah. Which made Samson very mad, but not only that. It seems that Eliza (or rather the Theon Sekhmet) is responsible for the hatred of parasites and their current dislike from humans.

Fighting Marie was rather bland with all the story that had came up before but, it was everything after that was amazing. As when she was about to claim the Skullheart for her own something happened.

Yeah, I really wasn't expecting Double to do that, nor was I expecting the story to include Double in such a way (just because I don't like playing characters like her, so I really didn't pay attention to her story). And we know got that basis on why Samson said that she screwed things over big time.

Eventually Eliza gets lots of power from the site that her and Double fight in, destroys the Skullheart and then heads back to her place for some well do rest and relaxation.Which eventually turns into Samson and Leviathan attacking her in her own place to end Eliza now and bring the world to peace.

I will admit though, I wasn't expecting the story to follow up on this and indulge on it more. And we all know how this fight is going to end, since this is Eliza's storyline. But as I love Squigly and Fillia the end made me sad, their fates are quite a bit depressing.

The story ends with Eliza turning into what looks like a giant Egyptian blood god and starts terrorizing the town; of course starting off with the Medici's because why not torment the people who tried to blackmail you into doing their dirty work. The last scene we see is Marie fighting Eliza again, telling her that it's not over.

Overall Eliza's storyline is beyond developed. Probably the most developed that I have seen from all of the character. There are tons of dialogue but even more, tons of images which is great. It really feels like good character DLC that fulfills what you were expecting from a fighting game.

Eliza's Gameplay and Syle
As with all the other characters in Skullgirls, Eliza's theme is the main basis of gameplay that being Egypt and blood. Her entrance is quite fun as she is being chauffered around in an Egyptian litter by Horace and Albus.

While she doesn't talk much in her entrance (depending on who she is fighting), Horace and Albus do talk and interact with each other. Also within combat the two also act as special moves. Albus primarily acts as a grab, Horace is a drop down divekick, and the final one is them rushing with a daybed (it changes between the two).

Eliza's main play deals with blood, to the point where she turned the blood into a boat and lounges while she attacks. Also at times you can see Sekhmet when using blood attacks. But you can also enable Sekhmet which depletes the special bar, but also her blockbuster special called "The Lady of Slaughter" which lets Sekhmet let loose and just destroy you if it hits and you get to hear her voice say "she who mauls" which makes you know that Sekhmet is very different from Eliza.

Personal Opinion on Eliza-Overall Preference
(I do play this game on my computer with Steam, just to let you know.)

Hands down, I will (and have been) practicing with Eliza. I really enjoy her play style very much because of how ridiculous her human form plays and how much of a parallel that Sekhmet is to her, in both speed and ferocity.

With the type of player I am I like speed and quick hits, so the fact that you can enable Sekhmet and plays fast makes me like this character even more. I enjoyed playing through Eliza's story, but added onto how she plays I enjoy playing her anytime I can. Currently I enjoy playing her alone, but I also put her in a group with Fillia when using two characters (which is ironic with the story) since I like how both girls play.

If you haven't downloaded the Eliza DLC yet, Eliza is still free right now since she released in September 30th. As with all Skullgirls DLC you have three months to get the character for free before it becomes a purchase of $4.99. Even if I had to purchase her I wouldn't mind paying the money since I love the fighting engine and even more I love the story and characters even more.